[AGJ]

I made a personal website for my online content last weekend. I just started using Dreamweaver, and wanted to get some practice in as Im going to begin doing more design over the next few months. I actually intended to use Flash buttons for the menu, but when I was previewing the design on my cpu it kept blocking them for Active X, and I assumed that the buttons would get blocked on all IE browsers. Now I believe they just got blocked local, and would not be blocked under normal circumstances, so I may go back and do them.

As for my other thoughts, I dislike the verdana font, or whatever I have on there. Dreamweaver's font stuff is overly complex. Most of the code I had to go through and edit to get workig right anyway, but I didn't have time to clean it up or even fix some redundance in the tables. I was mostly worried about optimizing for all resolutions and browsers, as I have only completed sparse design work in the last 6 years. Also the images for the articles are stretched because I update everything on friday night by hand, and the new pictures too on last week's picture's dimensions. I am not finished with the site, I want to make the news table look better and tie in with the rest of the site better. I also want to make some minor additions, and make a few graphic improvements. My links at the bottom are just text as of now as well. Lastly, I need to run my articles through an RSS feed, but they are broken at Yahoo, so I may end up using my database at my host for a wordpress script for the featured 5. Updating the articles in html with Dreamweaver's jumbled up script is time consuming, and if I want to get the image sizes right it will be that much more time consuming.

Any comments, suggestions and criticism would be appreciated. Any ideas for features would be great as well.

http://ajustice.net23.net/

Thanks guys

[modi123_1]

Okay - a bit lost here.

You use Dreamweaver but it sounds like you are rewriting most of it by hand. Why?

Optimizing for all resolutions? Why not pick a resolution and work up from there?
http://www.w3schools...ers_display.asp

You then drop a plethora of issues you don't like: font, stretched images, the news table, graphical improvements, links are text, articles are botched, and so on. It sounds like you want to over haul what's there. Should I spend the time looking at the site if it's going to be radically different in four weeks?

Are you planning on fixing those in the near future (which means I should hold off on critiques until then), or not?

[AGJ]

Im not rewriting most of it by hand, Im having to edit it by hand as I go because the tables keep messing up.

I did pick a resolution to design to. I kept the tables at widths that would work on lower resolutions is all I meant.

The problems with the font had more to do with me not knowing how to get dreamweaver to stick to what I wanted it to without adding in font tags, and I didn't want to keep doing that.

The site is not going to be radically changed in 4 weeks. Where did you get that? There will be minor additions, and minor changes.

[modi123_1]

Quote

The site is not going to be radically changed in 4 weeks. Where did you get that?

Okay - so you have a large laundry list of things you are not happy with or are just 'place holders' at the minute. Things that could really alter how your page looks.

was more a question of utility for my time - are you going to fix that list of stuff you provided and thus make me critiquing the site now irrelevant, or was that list of self complaints just there?

[AGJ]

And the links at the bottom are text because I dont have the pages made yet. The stretched images are my fault because I replace the urls for links and images in the code where last weeks were, so the images take on the dimensions of those.

I am having a hard time getting any constructive criticism, mostly because other writers that make similar pages do not know anything about making websites. Im not too worried about the technical aspects of it, but more about if someone has reccomendations for changes, design ideas (like maybe showing me something that works well for other sites, that I can integrate on this one), maybe a way to make the navigation look better, and what font combinations would work well. Just anything you'd think would make it look better, navigate better, load faster, whatever. And if anyone can get past the code, I could really use some ideas for features. A forum is a stupid idea for that site, but something like a cycling quotes script I could fill up some space with (but not a cycling quotes script).

Is the news table showing up that bad on your screen? It is a little offset from the top one on mine,

modi123_1, on 01 August 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

Quote

The site is not going to be radically changed in 4 weeks. Where did you get that?

Okay - so you have a large laundry list of things you are not happy with or are just 'place holders' at the minute. Things that could really alter how your page looks.

was more a question of utility for my time - are you going to fix that list of stuff you provided and thus make me critiquing the site now irrelevant, or was that list of self complaints just there?

It was more of just my thoughts than saying I was going to make all those changes. I wanted to hear some otehr opinions. The site will remain largely unchanged, I just cant get any valid criticism anywhere dude. I haven't done this in a long time.

[modi123_1]

No it's not showing up right.

You have an interesting way of not answering questions which I am not sure if interests me or peeves me more.

Okay.. criticism away then.

• Over all the site looks haphazard and cluttered; not well put together.
  
• The logo looks junior-high-ish.
  
• The purple stars are visually annoying especially since they don't shine or glow like the silver words next to them.
  
• The light blue background is boring. Where's some texture or a more visually interesting picture than warm milk?
  
• Yes your links for text look odd there on the side.
  
• What are those "YFC" "6" and "hot 500 yahoo" images below the menu? No help.
  
• The black twitter box looks just chucked there. No reason why or attempt to integrate it.
  
• Featured 5 - what does that even mean? Topics? Mud pies? Angry bees?
  
• Why is your picture and bio not in some 'about me' page? Why is it written in the third person when, I assume, you wrote it? You need a more professional photo as well.
  
• Author news - how is that different from more of the other information like the twitter feed or the favorite 5?
  
• Over all I have no idea what I am looking at. Some sort of conglomeration of social media and yahoo stories? Nothing indicates they are related.
  
• I don't get why the menu buttons take me to another site. Menus tend to keep you in the same site..
  
• It needs a theme or some design that ties it together in a meaningful manner. Right now all I see are random feeds schlocked onto a page.

If Lemur see's this he'll take it to the woodshed.

This post has been edited by modi123_1: 01 August 2011 - 01:52 PM

[Lemur]

To be blunt: start over.

Your web design coding is absolutely horrid. You're using multiple outdated tags and methods that have no place in a modern web design. You should NEVER use dreamweaver to start out, it builds a plethora of bad habits that will screw you. NEVER use tables for design, that is THE biggest sin of web design.

There's far too much about the page that's wrong to have any direction to start in except saying trash it and learn again the right way.

If your site doesn't read like mostly english in the code you're doing it wrong. Here's how my site is structured in HTML:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> 

<head> 
	<title>Title</title> 
</head> 
 
 
<body id="container">
 
<ul id="navigation"> 
	<li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> 

</ul> 

<div id="header"> 
	<h1>Title</h1> 
</div> 
 
<div id="leftCol"> 
	<h1>Header</h1> 
	
	<p>information</p>  
 
 
</div> 
 
<div id="rightCol"> 
	<h1>Sub Header</h1> 
 
	<p>information</p> 
</div> 
 
<br class="clearFloat" /> 
 
<div id="footer"> 
	<p>copywrite</p> 
</div>

</body> 
 
</html>

If you can't tell exactly what everything is for in under a minute your code needs serious work.

EDIT:

Quote

If Lemur see's this he'll take it to the woodshed.

You know I just saw that....

You know why you don't get any valid constructive criticism? That implies that there's something worthwhile to critique in the first place. What you have is a sloppily pushed together website you're trying to put off as professional class.

Now that I have a slight feel towards your attitude on the subject from reading your replies I suppose it's time to take the woodshed comment and exploit it to its fullest.

Web Design takes TIME and EFFORT to be good at. You can't just throw together something at 14, get a couple reviews from friends and family and expect that to be a good indication of a skill level. If you want to be good then you have to be called a professional by another professional. ONLY THEN may you dare call yourself that.

I've been at this for the better part of 8 years now, a majority of it being heavy study of trends, typography, styling, proportions, design law, and numerous other things you've probably never heard of.

If you want to be good you'll have to bleed to do it. Question is, how far are you willing to go to get to the point of professionalism. If you're going to be a hobbyist who takes this as a fun and dance bit, never call yourself a professional or regard your work as a good design.

People that know things about making web sites? I've been to National competition and have multiple state titles under my belt and quite a few sites under my belt in portfolio as well. I know what I'm talking about, but here's the kicker:

I suck compared to the real class professionals. I am an amateur and I admit that, I am at the bottom of the professional class. I have years of work to do to get to a point where I can truly be proud of my work.

No one is ever a master and no one is ever done growing in these types of fields.

To get this to a point: Be serious or find a new hobby.

This post has been edited by Lemur: 01 August 2011 - 02:42 PM

[souptoy]

Lemur, on 01 August 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

To be blunt: start over.

Your web design coding is absolutely horrid. You're using multiple outdated tags and methods that have no place in a modern web design. You should NEVER use dreamweaver to start out, it builds a plethora of bad habits that will screw you. NEVER use tables for design, that is THE biggest sin of web design.

There's far too much about the page that's wrong to have any direction to start in except saying trash it and learn again the right way.

I endorse this message.

[macosxnerd101]

I have removed all the posts that don't directly relate to criticisms of the OP's website. AGJ, I do believe modi123_1 was trying to be constructive and helpful. You are welcome to agree or disagree with them, but knocking his criticisms with your qualifications isn't helping anyone.

As a general notice, please do not feel obligated to respond to these threads if you do not have anything constructive to add. If you see an issue, please use the report button or contact a team member and we will handle it.

[calebjonasson]

Ok, well...

First I would like to state that this topic has gotten a little ridiculous since it started and there are a few things that need to be covered before I get into the site and the layout at hand.

I would suggest that even though people may not seem to be very nice they do have experience and I would take Lemurs suggestion when it comes to site design any day of the week. He seems to have a good eye for this kind of thing.

Now lets get back to the site.

General Layout
Al-right Adam Justice, lets start with the general layout of the content that is in the site itself. You are going with a three sidebar layout but you have a little "about me" section at the top. This pushes down the two farthest right columns and does not affect your menu bar at all. I would suggest removing this from the home page and moving it to another page since readers aren't going to care about you (sorry but if you are after fame and glory you aren't going to get it this way.) the readers are going to care about the content and only about the content on the site.

Consistency with Design
This is the most important aspect in my eyes when it comes to design. You are going to want to make things look the same based on what their purpose is. When my eyes see this site I don't know what I should be looking at since the headings are not descriptive enough for someone stumbling upon the site and the font is all the same size and bold value. Topic headings should stand apart from their content and not blend in. The content needs to be smaller font 12 would be perfect as the current size is actually straining my eyes.

Borders - I've noticed that the borders are different as well. Is there a reason for this or did you just not notice it?
Stars on headers - This should be removed, the headers should be a standard font and not a photo-shopped image with a crazy drop shadow.
Menu - None of your menu items are linking internally which is rather misleading for something called 'Menu' Also, a menu shouldn't need to be labelled to show what it is.

Left Sidebar - This entire sidebar needs to be broken down into components to show us where the content ends and what section it all belongs in. If you do end up sticking with really ugly photo-shopped star images please be consistent and put an ugly photo-shopped star image on every header. Please add a header for 'twitter' and 'badges.'

header - Remove this.

color scheme - Adobe has a project called Kuler. I would advise that you go to the site grab a color pallet at random and use it consistently.

Advertising - This can't be worth having it there. Is the $0.35 every month worth the ugly ad slot?

Personality Check
It wouldn't be a bad idea to just take a template that is already on the web and modify it. It looks as from reading above you aren't willing to spend 4 hours and fully redo the page.
I've also noticed on your twitter account that you think that you are famous? If I were you I would invest a little money in a business manager with at least 4 html degrees this person will be able to help you sell yourself and will help build up a site that markets you to all of your reader.

Also, on a serious note, don't add that you have a degree in html on your resume.